The Band Kenelis

Ulla Kelly interviews Mel Sanson of the band Kenelis

Please give me 3 words to describe your band.
Distortion, delay and deranged.

Which song would you like a Kenelis-virgin to listen to first and why?
Give her the gun, it’s my favourite album track and we’re giving it for free until our second single is released at xmas!! It’s a song that you can picture a story to, a very real story with an ambiguous ending… It’s angry but melancholic. Confident but vulnerable.

Who writes the songs and what’s the process?
Musically we write together, we’ll jam something and build on the stuff that sounds really good. Then the mood of the song, coupled with what’s on my mind at the time will create the lyrics. Sometimes we’ll scrap a song if it isn’t going anywhere but save the special bits for other songs.

What does “Give Her The Gun” mean to you?
GHTG represents empowerment and imprisonment. It’s like when you see something happening or someone being treated like shit, but you can’t always say anything so you keep it all inside then just fucking let out! It’s about not being able to express yourself or how you feel, because you’re scared.

Tell us about the new single, “Drained”?
Drained is one of those tracks that sounds really good LOUD when you’re driving. It’s kinda soothing and inspired by stress. You know when your face feels like it’s going to explode and you feel completely fucked at the end of a shit day? It’s the musical equivalent to a good painkiller. It has a warm wintery vibe to it, which is why we are releasing it at xmas. For the no.1 in fact! In the UK last year some random who no-one cares about anymore won a TV show singing competition and they always take the xmas no.1 because it’s watched by the same people that are brainwashed by the mainstream radio. We’re releasing it as a protest almost. It only took that guy 275,000 copies sold in a week to get it. We have 1000 fans on our mailing list so if everyone of those bought it and passed it on to 50 who passed it onto 8 people, we’d nail it!

Referring to another quote, “intense, angsty wall of noise,” - where’s the angst from? What’s the motivation behind your music?
I was a very angsty teen which was all about me of course, but now angst comes from frustration, and just being aware of shit. People in life can really take the piss. We get to let that all out through music, which is great. Like think about when you get really fucked off about something, how good would it be to just yell until your voice runs out!? That’s what I get to do, it’s great!

Where did the names for Kenelis and your label (Black Grass Records) come from?
A Kenelis is a flower that survives in harsh weather conditions. It’s spelt differently but I wanted it to be our own. We didn’t want a band name that pigeon-holed us, cos our music is diverse. We have our own sound but our songs are very individual. Black Grass was the name of one of our old songs.

It has to be asked - what’s it like being the only queer in a band of 5 members?
Well we’re all on the same team right?! Except I’m having the best sex! I don’t like us being referred to as ‘Female fronted’ because most girls sing songs about boys, and I sing songs about girls, so it’s better. There’s not that many female artists I related to when I was a teenager (except Skin of course) so I had to write my own songs and really love the idea of other lesbians relating to it too. The boys are great, we get along so well, I’m not a girly girl. Sam my drummer who sings backing vocals has a higher voice than me!

If you wrote yourself a personal ad for a lesbian dating site, what would it say?
Wanna fuck a rock star? Haha, I dunno I always have so much to say but hate giving too much away.

Please tell us about the guys in the band?
They are the nicest guys I know. They are really fucking talented. I love them like family, the brothers that I got to choose.

Do you regard yourselves as a particularly English band?
I’ve never really thought about it to be honest. I’m told I sound very English when I sing and we are English so that’s quite English I guess!

Was it a conscious decision to come out as a queer performer?
I am gay. I’m proud of my sexuality and it’s girls that have inspired my songs so it wasn’t really a decision it’s just who I am.

Do you get any negative reactions to it?
The only negative reactions I’ve had is from guys who think I’m going to fuck their girlfriend. I had a fight once with a guy in a club who started gay-hating on me cos his girlfriend was flirting with me. I was very drunk. She ended coming back to mine. I dropped her back to his in the morning! In regards to the band, no, not yet. If it happens, so what really I’ve never really been one to care about what other people think, unless it’s nice things. If they got homophobic then they would ending looking like a dick anyway.

Before Kenelis, how did you come out?
I just started sleeping with girls and told people.

What do you think about queer celebrities who stay in the closet?
I think they should get out!

Would you describe yourself as femme?
Futch. Femme Butch! I guess I have the girly hair, but that’s about it. I’m alternative if anything.

What’s your fan-base like?
We’re lucky to have a really loyal fan-base. It’s taken a while to get where we are very aware that fans are what makes bands. It’s why I love giving away the free track. We need people to buy our records but at the same time, everyone should have something for free!

Again, gotta ask - do you get hot lesbian groupies flinging you underwear and/or writing you heartfelt poetry and so on?
Ha, no is that what South African girls do?! Book me a flight! If a fan wrote me heartfelt poetry while wearing underwear on her head, I would be well impressed.

If so, how does your girlfriend cope with it?
She encourages lesbian groupies. She’s a very supportive band girlfriend. No-one whores me as good as her!

What would you like hot lesbian groupies to throw at you?
Lollipops and doobies.

You guys seem to be great at viral marketing; I was reading about your street team in your forum. How’s it working?
Oh that forum is old. We’re updating our site at the moment. We’re lucky that people wanna help us get exposure cos we don’t have big marketing budgets.

You are, like much of the world these days, active on Facebook - do you think it’s changed networking and communication? What do you like and dislike about that kind of social networking?
I don’t dislike it I think it’s great. We used to only have a home phone to talk to each other. Then mobiles and texts and now we can chat to each other for free and everyone gets to know how everyones doing.

Do you get a buzz out of pimping your own stuff or do you wish someone else would do it for you?
As a band, you have to pimp yourself. It;s very rewarding to have someone that you don’t know check you out and come back and say, yeah I dig that. My girlfriend does that most, she gets on a right mission and she’s very good! The label takes up a lot of the time. It’s that side of it I sometimes wish someone else would do for me, but everyone involved chips in so when the albums out it’s going to be an amazing feeling to know we did that, all of it.

What is your ultimate dream/passion?
Taking Kenelis all the way.

What does the future hold for you and for your band?
The future is exciting. We’re releasing this album in January (26th on iTunes) and it’s a great album. We’re writing the second album at the moment and we’re just getting better and better. We’ve done so much to get this far and now we get to really whore ourselves, the album is going to be out there and I can’t fucking wait!